Game: Dr. Mario
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 27th July 1990
Having grown tired of plumbing, Mario decided to try his hand at being a doctor (despite an obvious lack of qualification) in 1990. The aim of this puzzle game is to eliminate viruses by lining up rows of 4 pixels of the same colour, as Mario tosses pills down into the gameplay area for the player to position. Available options on the menu screen include the number of viruses onscreen at the start of the level, the speed of the game and the type of music played.
Although a lot of puzzle game have elements similar to that of Dr. Mario, it has enough unique gameplay elements to be distinct. Gameplay is simple as all the player controls is the movement and rotation of the pills being thrown by Mario into the play area. Unlike like Tetris, Dr. Mario does not feature naive gravity when blocks disappear which means that blocks overhanging a drop will fall once disconnected from their other half.
Once the player clears a level of all viruses, they move onto the next level which has more viruses. When there are a lot of viruses on screen, gameplay requires more strategy as to the placing of pills and letting blocks drop after making a successful block of 4 same coloured squares. While there's not a lot more to the game than progressing through the levels, the concept is fun and engaging with a decent difficulty curve between levels.
Graphically the game is nicely stylised and looks for the NES era, with a fairly detailed sprite of Mario throwing the pills and well animated viruses under the magnifying glass. Although there are only two songs to accompany gameplay, both are catchy and of good quality. Overall Dr. Mario is a great concept for a puzzle game, which perhaps didn't need to feature Mario and only really has one play mode, but plays nicely nonetheless. I wish I could give the game a higher score as the only real drawback is the limited amount of gameplay it offers, however this impacts quite heavily on its replayability and comparison of the game to more modern titles.
Rating: 46/100
Grade: D
Game: Clu Clu Land
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: October 1985
Five years before Dr. Mario hit the shelves, a puzzle game based on uncovering shapes made out of coins with a hero named Bubbles, that the player controls. It's only possible to turn using turning posts on the screen, between which the coins appear when the gaps are passed through. There are also enemies onscreen called Unira, which can be neutralised by a sound wave from Bubbles and then pushed to the edge of the screen to score points.
Once all of the coins in a level have been uncovered, that level is complete and the player may move onto the next. As the levels progress some coins take two trips to uncover and rebury themselves if passed over multiple times. This increases the difficulty without changing the gameplay too much. Although it can be difficult to work out what shapes the coins are making unless you've uncovered most of them or played the game before, it's easy to uncover them randomly until you have a clearer idea of what shape is being made.
Graphically the game features basic sprites and shapes for everything it portrays and although its usually easy to see what's going on, a little more detail would help in recognising the shapes. In terms of sound there's not a large selection of music to accompany gameplay, but the main theme is lively works well with the game. Controlwise, once players get the hang of using the sound wave to attack, and swinging around the turning posts there's not too much to fault.
Overall Clu Clu Land is a simple puzzle game with an interesting concept and gameplay. While it can be difficult to make out the shapes featured in the game and get used to the control system, the difficulty increases in a timely fashion and it's impressive for the time of its release. As with Dr. Mario, the game's main fault is the lack of replayability and different gameplay modes. There is however a two player option in Clu Clu Land which plays similarly to one player mode for both participants.
Rating: 42/100
Grade: E
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